THE lack of depth in our squad is why so many senior players were left out of Thursday’s game and defeat in Moscow. But it grieves me for several reasons.

Not least among them is the fact that we seem to be downgrading our ambitions in the Europe League – or old UEFA Cup as it was in my day.

For me a club of Liverpool’s stature should be breezing through a group like ours. Instead we have got lots to do now in our final two games against Young Boys and Udinese.

Teams like us fight hard all season to get into Champions League places and if that doesn’t happen then we strive for European football the following season in this one. But when we get there, like others, we leave our best players out more often than not and treat the tournament with less importance.

Being at the top of the pile at home is vital for us I know. But so too is winning in Europe – the two absolutely go hand in hand for me.

I was incredibly proud and privileged to be the first LFC captain to lift a European trophy. And it was the UEFA Cup back in 1973.

We all know what has happened on the European stage since we got our hands on that first trophy.

And that’s why I just hate to see us seemingly treating European football as less important – and I’m sure many Reds’ fans would agree.